A Composite Formation Route to Well‐Crystalline Manganese Oxide Nanocrystals: High Catalytic Activity of Manganate–Alumina Nanocomposites

Manganese oxide nanocrystals are combined with aluminum oxide nanocrystals to improve their crystallinity via calcination without a significant increase of crystal size. A nanocomposite, consisting of two metal oxides, can be synthesized by the reaction between permanganate anions and aluminum oxyhydroxide keggin cations. The as‐prepared manganese oxide–aluminum oxide nanocomposite is X‐ray amorphous whereas heat‐treatment gives rise to the crystallization of an α‐MnO₂ phase at 600 °C and Mn₃O₄/Mn₂O₃ and γ‐Al₂O₃ phases at 800 °C. Electron microscopy and N₂ adsorption‐desorption‐isotherm analysis clearly demonstrate that the as‐prepared nanocomposite is composed of a porous assembly of monodisperse primary particles with a size of ～20 nm and a surface area of >410 m² g^?1. Of particular interest is that the small particle size of the as‐prepared nanocomposite is well‐maintained up to 600 °C, a result of the prevention of the growth of manganate grains through nanoscale mixing with alumina grains. The calcined nanocomposite shows very‐high catalytic activity for the oxidation of cyclohexene with an extremely high conversion efficiency of >95% within 15 min. The present results show that the improvement of the crystallinity without significant crystal growth is very crucial for optimizing the catalytic activity of manganese oxide nanocrystals.     

Molecular dynamics study on nanotube-resonators with mass migration applicable to both frequency-tuner and data-storage-media

We investigated the cantilevered carbon-nanotube-resonator including electromigratively movable nanoparticle via classical molecular dynamics simulations and continuum model. The change of the effective mass value, which was closely correlated with the position change of the encapsulated nanoparticle, could be regressed by a power function, the resonance frequency of the carbon-nanotube-resonator could be tuned by controlling the nanoparticle’s position, and the possible frequency-shift-ranges then reached 18–85%. The suggested device could be served as a data-storage-media for electromechanical nonvolatile-memory as well as a frequency-tuner.     

Fabrication of Al matrix composite reinforced with submicrometer-sized Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> particles formed by combustion reaction between HEMM Al and V<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>5</Subscript> composite particles during sintering

To fabricate an Al-V matrix composite reinforced with submicron-sized Al₂O₃ and Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) phases, high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) and sintering were employed. By increasing the milling time, the size of mechanically milled powder was significantly reduced. In this study, the average powder size of 59 μm for Al, and 178 μm for V₂O₅ decreased with the formation of a new product, Al-Al₂O₃-Al_xV_y, with a size range from 1.3 μm to 2.6 μm formed by the in-situ combustion reaction during sintering of HEM milled Al and V₂O₅ composite powders. The in-situ reaction between Al and V₂O₅ during the HEMM and sintering transformed the Al₂O₃ and Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) phases. Most of the reduced V reacted with excess the Al to form Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) with very little V dissolved into Al matrix. By increasing the milling time and weight percentage of V₂O₅, the hardness of the Al-Al₂O₃-Al_xV_y composite sintered at 1173 K increased. The composite fabricated with the HEMM Al-20wt.%V₂O₅ composite powder and sintering at 1173 K for 2 h had the highest hardness.     

Printed compact dual band antenna for 2.4 and 5 GHz ISM band applications

A printed compact dipole antenna for dual ISM band (2.44 and 5 GHz) is presented. The proposed antenna fed by using a 50 /spl Omega/ coaxial line occupies a volume of 15/spl times/40/spl times/1 mm/sup 3/ (FR-4, permittivity 4.6). The impedance bandwidth for 10 dB return loss is about 400 MHz (from 2170 to 2570 MHz) at 2.4 GHz band and over 2300 MHz (from 4690 to beyond 7000 MHz) at 5 GHz band. The measured radiation gains range from 1.20 to 1.41 dBi at 2.4 GHz band and from 2.25 to 3.44 dBi at 5 GHz band, respectively.     

Stability of Networked Control Systems with Time-Varying Delays

A robust Smith predictor is proposed to compensate for the round trip delay of networked control systems (NCSs); An analytical TCP model is adopted. We show that stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed up to some maximum upper bound of the round trip delay     

French Abstract

This article integrates priming and framing into a cognitive-processing model that illustrates how the effects of watching a presidential debate might be influenced by a priming message as it interacts with an individual's schema. We examine how the frame of postdebate news analysis primes audience reflection on a previously viewed segment from the 2004 presidential debates (a process we identify as "primed reflection"). Results show that the influence of postdebate news analysis is a function of the interaction between the news-analysis frame (policy vs. performance) and the individual-level factors, namely, political knowledge and propensity to reflect on media content.     

An O(kn)-time algorithm for computing thereliability of a circular consecutive-k-out-of-n:Fsystem

I. Antonopoulou and S. Papastavridis (1987) published an algorithm for computing the reliability of a circular consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system which claimed O (kn) time. J.S. Wu and R.J. Chen (1993) correctly pointed out that the algorithm achieved only O(kn²) time. The present study shows that the algorithm can be implemented for O(kn) time     

A transconductance spectroscopy approach to device level surfacestate characterization

A device level transconductance spectroscopy approach is developed for characterizing surface states in metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors. A comparison of the theoretical results and the available experimental observations shows that the model can successfully explain both the surface leakage current dependence of transconductance dispersion magnitude reported by M. Ozeki et al. (1982) and the temperature dependence of transconductance dispersion observed by S.R. Blight et al. (1986)     

Does Multitasking Increase or Decrease Persuasion? Effects of Multitasking on Comprehension and Counterarguing

This study examined the effects of multitasking on persuasion, including comprehension and counterarguing of persuasive messages, which were presented in three different contexts: (a) nonmultitasking with full attention paid to the message, (b) multitasking with primary attention paid to the message, and (c) multitasking with secondary attention paid to the message. Consistent with predictions, the results suggested that multitasking reduced the actual and perceived levels of comprehension and also reduced counterarguing. The implications for research on persuasion are further discussed.